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Today's Quote
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Today's Verse
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Daily Wisdom
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Matthew wrote that Jesus came to bring hope to the Gentiles (Matthew 12:18-21). When most Americans read this it brings one minor thought to mind if any special thought at all -- Gentiles were those pagans that lived around the nation of Israel.
Unless one of my grandparents was a Jew, I am a Gentile, (not a pagan one, I trust), but still a Gentile. Today, the term Gentile has no strong negative ring to it. In Jesus' day, however, it was a very negative word used by Jews to describe those without God. Gentiles were hated by many Jews.
Jesus came to break down that wall that separated Jew from Gentile (Ephesians 2:14). In Christ we are all one. It is a beautiful thought because it shows that the way to God, through Jesus the Christ, is open to all. The word "Gentile" is no longer a dirty word. There are still disbelieving Gentiles who are pagans, and outside the commonwealth of God, but being a Gentile is no longer an embarrassment.
Today, being a Jew, in the view of some, is an embarrassment! Is it not interesting that where Jews once considered Gentiles inferior, today many so-called Christians consider Jews inferior. Anti-semitism is alive and well. In Germany it reached a peak during the holocaust.
I have never understood Anti-semitism, but it seems to be a common attitude around the world, especially the "Christian" world. I have heard people speak of the Jews as Jesus killers. While it may have been radical Jews who demanded his death, it was a Roman (a Gentile) who passed sentence. If one hates Jews because Jews killed Jesus should one not also love Jews because Jesus was a Jew.
Not all Jews wanted Jesus' death. Remember that all of the apostles were Jews. Clearly, Jews are not the only ones who killed Jesus. The writer of the Hebrew letter tells us that anyone who knows Jesus then turns away from him crucifies him. Jesus was not killed by Jews but by unbelief.
If we, as Gentile Christians, fall back into the same mold as those Jews who despised Gentiles, we are no better than those who crucified our Lord. The wall was broken down, we have not simply trade sides with the Jews!
